One of the more contentious issues in this country over the past decade has been immigration reform. In last year’s presidential election, Mitt Romney garnered only 27 percent of the Hispanic vote as a result of the failure by the Republican Party to pass an immigration overhaul bill that would make it easier for immigrants to gain citizenship.

America is a nation built by immigrants. My grandparents were Italian immigrants who raised my father and his eight siblings during the Depression. I’m sure many of you could tell similar stories of hardship and triumph.

There are now approximately 13 million unauthorized immigrants living within the nation’s borders. For years, our elected officials have been trying to fix America’s broken immigration system, to no avail, but recently that has changed, and progress has been made.

On June 30, just days before we celebrated the nation’s independence, 14 Republicans joined every Democrat in the Senate to pass an immigration overhaul bill by a vote of 68-32. The “Gang of Eight,” a bipartisan group, drafted the Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill and successfully brought it to a vote.

The bill would allow unauthorized immigrants living in American to gain temporary legal status if they pass a criminal background check and pay a fine and whatever back taxes they have outstanding. Someone who maintains a clean record and holds a job would be eligible to apply for a green card in 10 years and U.S. citizenship three years later.

Sen. Marco Rubio, himself the son of Cuban immigrants, said, “This is not just my story. This is our story. No one should dispute that like every sovereign nation, we have a right to control who comes in. But unlike other countries, we are not afraid of people coming in from other places.”

Comments

Firstly, let me mimic your sentiments, in that this country was built with the help of immigrants, my family being one of those such families. The difference, Mr. D'Amato, was that when my grandparents came here there was no welfare, no entitlements, no EBT cards, no social services, NOTHING!! Zip! They got by on their own ingenuity, integrity, hard work and true grit! Please don't compare today's immigrant who help themselves to the public trough in droves and live a very cushy lifestyle on the American taypayer's dollar.

If I hear that the immigration system is broken, just one more time, I think I'm going to lose it. What's broken is our deceitful, lying, obstructionist, ideological administration who can't see beyond their own re-elections. In reality, Mr. D'Amato what they are tyring to do is create a permanent underclass to assure their re-election generation after generation.

We're told, no we're promised, that border security will be the top priority. That's plain and simply put....Baloney! They haven't done it for decades, so why would I believe an administration that has shown itself to be engaged in such scandalous behavior, that I can't and won't entrust this country's future to them. No! The whole thing stinks, frankly.

If we haven't enforced anything up until now, what is going to change Mr. D'Amato. Is Obama going to wave his magic wand and all of a sudden, there is going to be border control, drones, surveillance, etc.? I highly doubt that. The INA of 1965 forever changed the face of this nation and now we are seeing the result of that. You are naive if you really think this administration is going to abide by the law. They haven't yet, so don't hold your breath.